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Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) aims to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment, by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of WEEE going to landfill. It seeks to achieve this by making producers responsible for financing the collection, treatment, and recovery of waste electrical equipment, and by obliging distributors to allow consumers to return their waste equipment free of charge.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive was agreed on 13 February 2003, along with the related Directive on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS).

The implementation of the WEEE Directive in the UK was delayed. It was due to be transposed into Member State legislation by 13 August 2004 and come into force by 13 August 2005. The UK Regulations implementing the WEEE Directive, however, were eventually laid before Parliament on 12 December 2006 and entered into force on 2 January 2007.

In December 2008 a public consultation document was issued seeking stakeholder views on the options to streamline and improve the UK WEEE system. This consultation exercise together with discussions with stakeholder has resulted in the introduction of amending regulations. The regulations seeking in the main to streamline the data reporting requirements and the evidence system.

For Factsheets on WEEE explaining the obligations for producers, distributors, approved exporters, treatment facilities, business users and consumers.

BIS has published specific guidance for local authorities, producer compliance schemes, distributors, re-use and refurbishment organisations, and approved authorised treatment facilities to explain their roles within the WEEE system.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) is responsible for transposing the WEEE Directive into UK law, working in partnership with the Devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Defra is responsible for ensuring the permitting of Authorised Treatment Facilities for the WEEE Directive.
The Environment Agency for England and Wales, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency in Scotland and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency are the enforcement agencies in the UK for the WEEE Directive.

The UK WEEE Regulations apply to electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) which falls within the 13 product categories listed below:

Large household appliances
Small household appliances
IT & Telecommunications equipment
Consumer equipment
Lighting equipment
Electrical and electronic tools
Toys, leisure and sports equipment
Medical devices
Monitoring and control instruments
Automatic dispensers
Display Equipment
Cooling Appliances containing refrigerants
Gas Discharge Lamps

The WEEE Regulations will apply to the following groups :

Producers (any business that manufactures, imports or rebrands electrical and electronic products)
Retailers and Distributors (any business that sells electrical and electronic equipment to end users)
Local authorities
Waste management industry
Exporters and re-processors
Businesses and other non-household users of EEE

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations: Government consultation on new regulations and further development of the supporting infrastructure to take effect from the fourth compliance period (1 January - 31 December 2010 onwards) including impact assessment and draft regulations (293KB)

Settlement Centre

The WEEE Regulations place financial obligations on the producers of electrical and electronic equipment with regard to WEEE arising in the UK. The Settlement Centre (SC) has been developed and funded by BIS to monitor the levels of WEEE arising and the levels collected, treated and recycled by individual Producer Compliance Schemes (PCSs). The SC went live on 30 November 2007 and enables evidence notes to be submitted by Approved Authorised Treatment Facilities (AATF) and Approved Exporters (AE).

The Settlement Centre (external link) is only accessible to principal users; producer compliance schemes (PCSs)/approved local authority DCF (Designated Collection Facilities) operators or approved authorised treatment facilities (AATFs) and approved exporters (AEs) working on their behalf. BIS and the environment agencies will have access to the Settlement Centre for monitoring purposes.

The Environment Agency for England and Wales has published Guidance Notes for WEEE Evidence (PDF).

WEEE (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (external link) were laid in Parliament on 11 December 2007 came into force on 1 January 2008 for the second compliance period.